Petitions to Reform the National Firearms Act

Petitions to Reform the National Firearms Act Reviewed by Dean Weingarten on Jul 18Rating: 5.0The administrative restrictions and burdensome taxes on the possession of short barreled rifles and shotguns, and on gun mufflers, should be repealed.

By Dean Weingarten

Petitions to Reform the National Firearms ActDean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- The rifle pictured above is completely legal. Take off the stock and the barrel, and replace them with the two inch shorter barrel and the pistol grip, and it is completely legal.

Leave the stock on, and put on the shorter barrel, and you have just committed a Federal felony with a potential ten year jail sentence. The rifle pictured above is a single shot.

The two semiautomatic handguns and the revolver have more power, more capacity, and are easier to conceal, but their possession is constitutionally protected.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 might have made some sense in 1934, when the Roosevelt administration was trying to make handguns illegal in the United States for people of ordinary means. It would have made no sense to require all handguns to be registered, and to pay $200 for a Federal tax stamp (the equivalent of more than $4,000 today!) if anyone could buy a rifle or shotgun and cut it down to make the equivalent of a handgun.

With the Supreme Court ruling in Heller, that the possession of loaded and unlocked handguns in the home is constitutionally protected under the second amendment, a ban on short barreled handguns and shotguns is archaic and silly. There is no reason that short barreled rifles or shotguns should be subject to any more restrictions than handguns are.

It is the height of absurdity that possession of a .22 single shot rifle with a 15.9 inch barrel is a Federal felony with a potential five years in prison, but possession of a 17 shot 9mm Glock is a constitutionally protected right across the nation.

J.O. of Tucson, Arizona, has created a White House petition to call for an end to this insanity. I do not expect the Obama administration to pay the least attention to it. They ignore facts, logic, and the law on a routine basis. It will serve, however, to let other lawmakers know that this law needs reform.

A rifle is a firearm with a barrel length greater than 16 inches. A Short Barreled Rifle (SBR) is a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches. An SBR is less effective than a rifle but more effective than a handgun for self-defense. It is also more efficient for traversing close quarters to clear a threat from your place of residence such as a burglar, etc. As of right now, you can purchase a bull-pup rifle or rifle with a folding stock which is, in most cases, shorter in over all length than a SBR. The need to register an SBR (and Short Barreled Shotgun) is unjustified and the requirement should be removed.

c2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten;

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

9 thoughts on “Petitions to Reform the National Firearms Act”

What has always been dumb is shotguns that will hold 5 shells, but we have to keep a plug in it so it will only fire 3. Why is it made to hold 5 if only 3 can be loaded and I can feed shells into it as fast as I can fire it, so this null and voids that law. This is a stupid law that needs to be looked at and done away with.

The restriction is for migratory game birds only. This was instituted in the past to stop the decimation of waterfowl. If you don’t hunt migratory birds then there is no federal requirement to retain the plug.

all youre going to do is draw attention to the fact the tax stamp of $200 hasn’t been bought up to speed with the inflation of the dollar..and they’ll create an increase to where NO ONE but their cronies will be able to afford SBRs, SBS and Supressors..all in the name of “Common sense gun safety”

whie the current rule of law is STUPID beyond doubt,,do this with a PRO GUN POTUS and SENATE, aka Non Democrats and RINOS..

NFA should be REPEALED IN ITS ENTIRITY with every dollar of the $200 per approval of each NFA Title II weapon or device return to the owner / applicant. NFA has outlived it time (not that it should have been enacted in the first place). Any American citizen per the 2nd Amendment should be allowed to own, make or configure weapon(s) in a common sense manner in which he or she sees useful and safe without governmental interference. A Short Barreled rifle or shotgun is no less lethal than a non NFA weapon. A Short Barreled Shotgun is no less lethal than a Taurus Judge or S&W Governor. A Short Barreled Rifle is no less lethal than a Thompson Contender Pistol chambered in the same caliber. NFA needs to be repealed COMPLETELY AND SOON! It has out lived its usefulness as if it ever was.